Former Rehab CEO Angela Kerins has said she is still seeking “justice” from the Oireachtas over her unlawful treatment by the Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) 11 years ago.
In an interview with RTÉ One’s Prime Time on Tuesday, Ms Kerins said she has written to the Taoiseach, and will be writing to the Ceann Comhairle, to see if “a fair process” can be established for her.
“I think what is needed here, for people to have confidence in the system, is to have an agreed independent mediator to come in between both sides and resolve it.”
Last year, the Supreme Court, which ruled in 2019 the PAC’s conduct was unlawful, said her legal claim for damages against the Oireachtas arising from her treatment “cannot be maintained”.
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Ms Kerins told Prime Time’s Miriam O’Callaghan her experience before the PAC had “destroyed” her career, her health and “nearly destroyed me”.
“I have a lot of complex PTSD over it.”
The courts “cannot give me a remedy” and the Oireachtas “has a duty and obligation to do so”, she said. “I’m now having to go back to my abusers for justice.”
Ms Kerins was invited to appear before the PAC in 2014 when the pay of executives working in the charity sector, or for organisations receiving public funds, was subject to scrutiny in the wake of the financial crash.
The Rehab Group, which was receiving about €80m in State funding, was among the organisations which came under the spotlight and Ms Kerins’ salary was among the issues focused upon. In February 2014, the Rehab Group stated her annual salary was €240,000.
Against that background, the PAC extended a formal invitation to Ms Kerins and a number of her Rehab colleagues to appear before it.
Prior to going before the PAC, lawyers sought clarification on behalf of Rehab about the nature of the questions they would face, Ms Kerins said. It was confirmed they were invited to address questions regarding HSE payments to Rehab for services, the operation of a lottery scheme, and funding from the Department of Justice and Solas training programmes.
After proceedings began, PAC members focused on Ms Kerins' salary and her company car.
Ms Kerins said she felt “trapped” during what she saw as a one-sided interrogation over seven hours with no ability to defend herself.
She and her Rehab colleagues went before PAC “to give them as much information as possible” about what was being provided for public monies being paid to Rehab, she said. They were “very proud” of those services but the Pac was “not interested in what we thought we were going in to do” and was “only interested in creating some form of headlines and smoke and mirrors”.
Becoming upset, she said she was so overwhelmed by what happened before the Pac in March 2014 she had attempted to “stop it” by taking her life but was rescued by a concerned colleague and hospitalised.
She could not attend a follow-up hearing that April and resigned from her Rehab role that month.
Her claims about the conduct of the PAC were denied, and the committee argued it was entitled to ask questions concerning State funding to Rehab.
The Supreme Court, in its 2019 judgment on the first module of Ms Kerins’ proceedings, found some of the questioning went beyond the committee’s stated remit and the PAC acted unlawfully and exceeded its terms of reference.
In June last year, the court, in judgments refusing her application to see Dáil documents as part of her bid for compensation, said her claim for damages “cannot be maintained”.
The Chief Justice, Donal O’Donnell, said her damages claim as formulated was precluded by Article 15 of the Constitution, which confers privilege on parliamentary utterances.
That finding did not mean she did not have any constitutional rights in her dealings with the PAC, he said. The Oireachtas is obliged to fulfil a constitutional duty to defend and vindicate the personal rights of the individual in the case of injustice done, he said.
The Chief Justice noted that an apology in 2019 to Ms Kerins from then Ceann Comhairle Seán Ó Fearghaíl, which referred to the committee having trampled on the rights of a citizen, was made in a personal capacity and not authorised on behalf of the Dáil.
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